HEBRON, Monday, February 13, 2019 (WAFA) – Israeli forces    Wednesday morning destroyed a recently-rehabilitated road that connected Khallet Ad-Dabe‘ to Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, said a local activist.

Coordinator of the Anti-Wall and Anti-Settlement Committees in the southern Hebron Rateb al-Jabour told WAFA that Israeli forces provided protection to a military bulldozer that destroyed the road that was recently rehabilitated by the Anti-settlement and Anti-wall Committee and the village council of al-Tuwani.

The road, Jabour noted, used to facilitate Palestinian farmers’ access to their farmlands and residential areas, was repeatedly destroyed to choke off Masafer Yatta.

He slammed the road destruction as part of the Israeli occupation authorities’ practices aimed to displace Palestinians from the area to make room for settlement construction in the southern Hebron hills.

Masafer Yatta is composed of dozens of small communities, which rely heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood, and is classified as Area C, which is under full Israeli military control and makes up around 60 percent of the area of the occupied West Bank.

The area has been subjected to repeated Israeli violations by settlers and soldiers targeting their main source of living – livestock.

Israeli violations against the area include demolition of animal barns, homes and residential structures. Issuance of construction permits by Israel to local Palestinians in the area is non-existent.

He added that such Israeli measures aim to force residents out of their place in favor of expanding the settlements.

K.T./ K.F.